My Poppy Sturge is 92 years old today. I’m very fortunate because both of my maternal grandparents are still alive (shout out to Nanny Sturge!).

So many people know Art Sturge – from pretty much every corner of Newfoundland and Labrador. He’s had some interesting jobs over the years and I’ve always enjoyed hearing his stories.

Throughout my childhood, I was very fortunate to spend time with Nanny and Poppy. They had a trailer up at our summer place at Bull Pond and that meant there were many weekends (rain or shine) that they were there and I was able to enjoy lots of activities with Poppy. From berry picking, to going for long walks in the woods (or at least they seemed long to me), and our version of trawling the pond in his aluminum boat with our fishing lines hanging off the sides of the boat as they were dragged along – there was lots to do.

Poppy and I at Bull Pond… 1990-something

One fish, two fish

Fishing with Poppy was something I remember fondly. We would go out for great lengths of time. And this was before cell phones. So if we were gone for a while, it’s not like my parents were calling to check and see if we were still afloat… they just knew we were fine. At a young age I was taught the importance of boat safety – always wear your life jacket; do not randomly stand up; when you do stand up, stand with your legs and lower your centre; respect the boat and don’t act silly or get carried away. He also made sure I knew how to start the motor… just in case something ever happened to him.

We often caught something when we were out – which is pretty amazing given the fact that I was (and still am) a talker; I should have scared away a lot of the fish! Sometimes when we hit a little cove on the pond, Poppy would shut off the motor, get out his fly fishing rod, stand up in the boat and give a few flicks to see if he could catch something. I usually sat there in awe. The fact he was standing (!!!) in the boat without falling and he was maneuvering that crazy fishing pole, I would just sit and watch; loving every minute of it.

As an extended family with my parents, aunts uncle and cousins, we also enjoyed going to Bull Pond in the winter with Nanny and Poppy. There was one adventure that involved (frozen) ice fishing… but that’s a story for another day.

Playing the cards you’re dealt

On the rainy days at Bull Pond, a walk could still happen, but playing cards was more likely. Nanny and I played a lot of Queens, and they both played more than one game of scat and of course Go Fish! They even taught me how to play Cribbage at one point; it was also fun just watching them play Cribbage. They were patient when I wanted to practice shuffling cards and to this day, I can shuffle like a boss thanks to all of that practice.

Fear of boats

I also credit Poppy for helping me overcome my fear of boats. Despite seeming like I’m half fish, there was a time I was terrified of getting into a small boat. When I was around nine years old, there was an incident in Sandy Cove, NL, where I fell out of a dinghy and into the ocean (we’ll gloss over the exact details for now). That experience left me a little traumatized to say the least. Well, Poppy wasn’t going to sit back and have me terrified of boats when we had a perfectly fine pond and multiple boats at Bull Pond (and let’s not forget that we lived on an island!).

So what did he do? Well he convinced me to go out into is aluminum boat with him and when we were not far from the wharf, he turned off the engine, he stood up, and started rocking the boat back and forth. I screamed! I screamed like a banshee freaking out. But he assured me that the boat wouldn’t tip over and that the rocking was fun. Eventually I calmed the hell down and since then, my fearlessness of boats is going strong. And now, I’m passing on the importance of boat safety to Miranda whenever we’re at Bull Pond.

92 years young

Happy birthday Poppy! You’ve played a significant role in creating our amazing extended family that reaches far and wide across the province, country and the globe. You’re the dog-whisperer baby-loving storyteller of our family and we all love you very much.

Here’s a video I created for Poppy’s 90th birthday celebrations two years ago. Since then, we’ve had more great-grandchildren arrive (with more to come this month and in May!) and even more photos capturing memories with family and friends.

]]>http://virginiamiddleton.ca/blog/2019/02/18/woo-hoo-hes-92/feed/02204Change of planshttp://virginiamiddleton.ca/blog/2019/02/11/change-of-plans/
http://virginiamiddleton.ca/blog/2019/02/11/change-of-plans/#commentsMon, 11 Feb 2019 14:04:09 +0000http://virginiamiddleton.ca/blog/?p=2197Me:You know what? The baby had a bit of a rough night, so I think for once, I’ll take a nap when she naps this morning.

The Universe:Yeah you see, we have other plans for you today. Buckle up!

TMI warning…

By 9:30 a.m.

The 5 year old (5YO) woke up covered in her own barf (ever her hair didn’t escape the splatter zone).

5YO now must stay home from school for the day.

First thing this morning, the baby had a poop-explosion of great magnitude (AKA full change of clothes required… should give her a bath later).

The baby clearly has a head cold and it has made her cranky (which isn’t like her at all. Sin).

Both children must be kept in quarantine of each other to help avoid the exchanging of sicknesses. Which is not easy when they both love to be all up in each other’s business and you can’t really reason with an almost 9 month-old.

The laundering of 5YO’s bedding requires multiple rounds…

Baby had a second poop-explosion resulting in a second full wardrobe change (gee, glad didn’t bother with that bath yet!).

The pack n play was a casualty in the second poop-explosion… all things and bedding-like stuffs must enter into the laundry queue.

Baby just spit up Cheerios… praying she doesn’t have 5YO’s stomach bug……….

And how is your Monday morning fairing so far?

]]>http://virginiamiddleton.ca/blog/2019/02/11/change-of-plans/feed/12197Mommy Musing Monday – Oh the Pain of it Allhttp://virginiamiddleton.ca/blog/2019/02/04/mommy-musing-monday-oh-the-pain-of-it-all/
http://virginiamiddleton.ca/blog/2019/02/04/mommy-musing-monday-oh-the-pain-of-it-all/#commentsMon, 04 Feb 2019 17:30:21 +0000http://virginiamiddleton.ca/blog/?p=1512This is a post I started writing almost 5 years ago. Haven’t been able to simply delete it, so I’ve updated and added some details.

Before giving birth to our first daughter, I had to deal with some rather horrifying birth stories. Surprisingly, it wasn’t necessarily family or friends who wanted to share their story, but sometimes strangers or people I hardly knew.

I’m not joking. I actually had someone who I had only met a half hour before go into great detail about the birth of her son and how traumatic it was (I still get anxious if I even think about the details)… Oh and this was just after she told me that I looked much bigger than someone who was 16 weeks pregnant.

What is it with some moms that feel the need to terrify soon-to-be moms?

The second time around, I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of awful stories I was told during that pregnancy. I suspect the fact that I was an experienced old lady had an impact, as well as the fact that my first labour and delivery was fairly textbook and unexciting.

But that’s not always the case for everyone. And it’s true that sometimes we just want to be heard… but maybe wait until a baby has arrived before bombarding a mom-to-be? Hormones are crazy and imaginations can run wild.

Heck, during my first pregnancy, I kept having nightmares about family members dying by various means. Poor Matt was dream-killed a few times times. Oddly enough, only male family members were getting picked off. Weird. Towards the end of that pregnancy I did manage to “save” my brother when I realized what was happening and I wanted the nightmare to end before it went any further.

Both of my birthing experiences went very well and I’m more than happy to talk about it if someone wants to hear about either epic tale. But if you don’t wasn’t to hear the nitty gritty details, that’s okay too!

If you’ve had a similar experience during a pregnancy (and it’s possible for dads to hear stories too), how did you deal with it? Or do you have that one story you can’t shake?

]]>http://virginiamiddleton.ca/blog/2019/02/04/mommy-musing-monday-oh-the-pain-of-it-all/feed/51512I wrote that when?http://virginiamiddleton.ca/blog/2019/01/11/i-wrote-that-when/
http://virginiamiddleton.ca/blog/2019/01/11/i-wrote-that-when/#respondFri, 11 Jan 2019 15:34:04 +0000http://virginiamiddleton.ca/blog/?p=2185There are so many things I want to write about, but alas there are only so many hours in the day and many of those are dedicated to being a mom, an adult, or squeezing in some sleep.

I just did a quick skim through some draft blog posts. Looking at them with fresh eyes, I honestly can’t understand why many are still in draft format and were never published.

No wait, that’s not completely true. I can guess WHY they were never published. Because something likely happened in the creative process where I felt like more detail or a photo was needed. I may have then become distracted and thought “I’ll finish this later” and then life happened.

I suspect there are a few different reasons why this happens and I won’t just try to blame it on a chronic case of procrastination.

Since taking Gretchen Rubin’s Four Tendencies quiz, I’m now realizing that I am very much a Questioner. Anyone who knows me well or has worked with me will know that I’m usually not short on words. There’s a lot of over thinking going on in my head and internally, I’m constantly asking questions and looking at situations from many different views. If we start talking about a project or a topic I’m familiar with, I’ve likely convinced myself that I have already examined all the different facts about the why and the how. But that doesn’t mean I’m right, but in my head I am, and being questioned doesn’t really jive with Questioners (oh the ultimate irony!).

I’ve always given some credit to my extra thinking because at the age of six, I was diagnosed with a mild case of Tourette’s Syndrome (TS).

My brain is wired a little differently.

Someone with TS often has some common comorbidities like ADHD and OCD, which I just see as part of the whole package deal of who I am. I usually have a lot of energy (hello ADHD), can usually switch gears and jump from topic to topic (hello again ADHD) and am a pro at getting side tracked when discussing something (that’s 3 for 3 ADHD).

And I have lots of OCD related examples from going into too much detail (because God forbid I not tell you EVERYTHING about a very specific thing), to getting “stuck” and needing to think or talk about something over and over and over to the point where I unintentionally get on someone’s nerves. If this has happened to you, I apologize.

But it’s not all bad. I promise. It’s amazing what tricks you can pick up along the way when you’re busy trying to pay attention to everything around you and what’s inside your head.

Because that’s really the concept of ADHD – it’s not that a person cannot concentrate on something, the challenge is that they’re overwhelmed with trying to pay attention to ALL THE THINGS. So what about when I switch from topic to topic? That’s basically my brain interrupting… well, my brain, to push out a thought that just desperately wants to get out. Why? Because of a lack of impulse control (hat tip to TS) and as a questioner, I’ve already thought through the details about something to verify my internal expectations and buy in.

OCD behaviours can help ensure certain projects receive the highest level of attention to detail. Or maybe I’ll never leave the house unlocked because I’ve already check it twice. I have more examples, but I’m starting to lose my steam here and we need to wrap things up soon.

And when you get to know your own little quirks, you find ways to get yourself “unstuck” and start to recognize when someone else may be stuck about something and they may not even realize it. You start to notice what meetings are more productive when you have a formal agenda and what meetings can be more of an open season to see where things go.

Oh and with their powers combined (ADHD and OCD), let me tell you, if you want to hear the most extensive details about something that happened to me in kindergarten? Well, then go get a coffee, pull up a chair and get settled in for a long story. Again, I apologize to everyone who has experienced this on what has been a daily basis…

I’m sort of talking in circles here and it’s time to let you move on to something else. But guess what? This blog post, which will not end up dying as a draft post, came to me randomly when I was planning on writing about something completely different. Ha!

]]>http://virginiamiddleton.ca/blog/2019/01/11/i-wrote-that-when/feed/02185C is for Coffeehttp://virginiamiddleton.ca/blog/2018/11/13/c-is-for-coffee/
http://virginiamiddleton.ca/blog/2018/11/13/c-is-for-coffee/#respondTue, 13 Nov 2018 15:14:13 +0000http://virginiamiddleton.ca/blog/?p=2177Today has been brought to you by the letter C and the number 2…

I’m currently working on coffee #2 which isn’t the norm for me.

Our 5yo tiny human has had a couple of disrupted nights and the baby’s nighttime routine is so random, we can’t really call it a routine.

COFFEE, COFFEE, COFFEE!!

Note: we were so spoiled with the first born. Luckily the baby is very cute and makes up for it in personality… not that the first born wasn’t cute or had lots of personality. Oh hell. I’m rambling again. Time to drink some of coffee #2.

So on those days you have trouble gathering your get up and go, what do you do? Extra caffeine? Play some fun music? Try to work in some extra activity?

Why do you think this works for you?

Let a comment and you may help motivate someone else (and also me, so there’s that…).